Cartier & Coppola: beyond inspiration to creation

Cartier has teamed up with iconic, award-winning film director Sofia Coppola to create a suitably stylish and glamorous film for its new Panthère de Cartier collection.

By Frances Hopes

Cartier, a Maison synonymous with style and femininity, has given carte blanche to Sofia Coppola to direct the film for the Panthère de Cartier collection.

Inspired by Coppola’s vision of the 1980s and what it means to be a Panthère woman, the stylish film was shot in LA over a couple of days. Featuring a Panthère woman – “elegant, sophisticated, chic and glamorous, while still sexy and fun” – epitomised by actress Courtney Eaton, locations included a Union Station downtown, the Georgio’s night club, a hotel in Hollywood and the Fox Residence for the ultimate Panthère setting.

Sofia Coppola

Courtney Eaton stars in Sofia Coppola's Cartier Panthère campaign

Speaking about the project, Coppola says: “I’ve always loved Cartier, the archives, the history and the design, which is very unique. I am a fan. When Cartier told me that they wanted to make a film for the relaunch of the Panthère de Cartier watch, I first thought: who is a Panthère woman? What would her environment be? I love the Panthère watch, so I was happy to make a film which captured the chic and the glamour of what it says to me.

“The Panthère watch is unique because it is a piece of jewellery that you can wear in the day as a glamour look as well as in the evening. When the Panthère watch came out in 1983, there were so many great movies, and I love the stars of that time. I remember the glamorous kind of women who wore a Panthère watch. It was just a stylish time to remember.”

Coppola is an Oscar-winning writer and Oscar-nominated producer and director. While men do sometimes play roles central to the narrative of her films (Stephen Dor in Somewhere or Bill Murray in Lost in Translation), her leading characters are almost exclusively women. With an abundance of talent and a distinctive artistic vision, Coppola knows, better than anyone, how to reinvent the past with a rigorously contemporary touch.

You can view the new Panthère de Cartier collection directed by Sofia Coppola here: